Senator Housakos: That is very sad, leader. Bill C-11 is another example of the centralizing measures of the Trudeau government, which imposes its laws on the provinces. It doesn’t consult with Alberta when its work impacts the oil industry. It doesn’t consult Quebecers when it meddles in Quebec culture.

Senator Gold, why did the Trudeau government not consult Quebecers before introducing a bill that specifically targets Quebec culture?

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): My question also concerns the Canada Infrastructure Bank. In fact, it is legislated for a five-year review. Minister LeBlanc is required to bring forward a report to Parliament by the end of June.

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According to documents obtained through Access to Information and Privacy and released last week by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, this review began in June 2022 but has had no public engagement and no public information on the process being followed. Yesterday, a senior official from Infrastructure Canada told our National Finance Committee that they have opened some public consultation.

Leader, could you tell us when this consultation began and if it’s still open? Were all Canadians invited to comment or just those groups and individuals chosen by the Trudeau government?

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): My question is for the government leader in the Senate.

On this Agriculture Day in Canada, it concerns a matter of importance for many of our farmers. It’s been almost a year since the Trudeau government imposed a 35% tariff on fertilizer imports from Russia, including fertilizer that had been ordered long before Vladimir Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine began. This tariff has punished Canadian farmers, as about $34 million has been collected by the Trudeau government.

Leader, in December, the Atlantic Grains Council, the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, the Grain Farmers of Ontario, the Grain Growers of Quebec and the Ontario Bean Growers jointly asked that this money be refunded to the farmers who paid it. What is the Trudeau government’s response to this request?

Senator Plett: Leader, about six weeks from now, the carbon tax will once again increase, going from $50 to $65 per tonne. By 2030, it will reach $170 per tonne. Late last year, the annual food report from Dalhousie University, Canada’s Food Price Report 2023, stated that “by 2030, a typical 5,000-acre farm could see taxes of over $150,000 . . . .” Farmers have to dry their grain, and they have to heat and cool their livestock barns. This isn’t an option for them; they have no choice in the matter. Yet the Trudeau government continues to hurt them financially for that necessary work.

Leader, on this Agriculture Day, why should farmers believe that the Trudeau government understands and supports their work when there is so much evidence to the contrary, especially with regard to the carbon tax?

Hon. Leo Housakos: My question is for the government leader, and it has to do with a news story yesterday from the Trudeau government’s preferred broadcasting news outlet, the CBC, where they identified three Canadians of Iranian descent operating right here in this country who are wanted by the FBI for money laundering on behalf of the IRGC and the regime — millions and millions of dollars. They are masquerading around in Toronto as real estate brokers, mortgage brokers and investors.

We have seen the Trudeau government refuse to move on the foreign influence registry and accountability act by keeping it on ice right in this chamber. We have seen the Trudeau government refuse to use Magnitsky sanctions against many agents who are connected to oligarchs and dictatorships, and we see the Trudeau government refusing to list the IRGC.

Are you going to take action once and for all and not allow the agents of these regimes come into our country and use Canada as an ATM machine?